1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a vehicle seat belt webbing retractor, and particularly to a retractor including a cinch mechanism for blocking withdrawal of belt webbing in response to rotation of a spool of the retractor in a certain predetermined manner.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A typical seat belt system used to restrain a vehicle occupant includes a length of belt webbing wound on a spool of a seat belt webbing retractor. The belt webbing is extensible about a vehicle occupant to restrain the occupant.
In some seat belt systems, the webbing is prevented from being further withdrawn from the retractor throughout the time that the webbing is secured around the vehicle occupant, i.e., the webbing is maintained in a clinched condition. It is desirable to be able to set a seat belt webbing retractor manually to block withdrawal of belt webbing from the spool. Seat belt webbing retractors are known which include a manually engageable cinch lever for placing the retractor into a cinching mode to block rotation of the spool in the belt withdrawal direction. Seat belt webbing retractors are also known which assume a cinching mode in response to rotation of the retractor spool in a certain predetermined manner.